


Thirteen.

by Dynasty



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Minor Character Death, Minor OQ
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-06-01 10:22:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6514279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dynasty/pseuds/Dynasty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirteen years. Four thousand, seven hundred and forty five days. Six million, eight hundred-thirty two thousand and eight hundred minutes. </p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>The amount of time it took for Emma Swan to realise she was in-love with Regina Mills.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OQ is present throughout this fanfic, however SwanQueen is endgame!

Thirteen years. Four thousand, seven hundred and forty five days. Six million, eight hundred-thirty two thousand and eight hundred minutes. 

The amount of time since the moment Emma Swan met Regina Mills, and the amount of time since the life of Emma Swan began to change. The amount of time it took for Emma Swan, daughter of Mary Margaret and David, to realise that she was one hundred percent, completely head over heels in love with Regina Mills.

-  
The bell rang and the students immediately leapt from their desks, gathering up their items and began to disperse from the classroom. The geography teacher reminded her students urgently about their upcoming test and rolled her eyes at the groans of thirty odd students echoing throughout the classroom. Emma scowled at the thought of the test. Geography was definitely not her prime subject. Nonetheless, she swung her backpack over her shoulder and briefly nodded at her teacher as she left the classroom. 

 

She walked throughout the corridors, glaring and shoving her way past ignorant students. What she wouldn’t do to hit them over the head with a shovel. Getting anywhere in the StoryBrooke High School was a disaster, especially when you were accident prone like a certain Emma Swan. Barely two feet away from her locker, she felt a weight crash into her side, knocking her over and sending her books spiralling across the floor. Bracing her fall with her elbows, she saved herself from injury, looking up to see the cause of her very ungraceful meeting with the ground. Her emerald eyes roamed up the figure standing before her. Killian Jones stood with his hand scratching his head awkwardly and a grimace across his features. Emma glared at him as he offered his hand to help her up, she batted it away before standing.

 

“Seriously, Jones? What the hell?! Are you fucking blind?” Emma snapped at the jock. 

 

“Woah, cool it, Swan! It was an accident! It’s not like I deliberately sent such a fine specimen flying” the brunette drawled in his Irish accent. “Plus, that’s not the way I intend on getting you to fall for me” he said with a smirk, causing his friends to laugh and holler behind him. Emma scoffed at his attempt to flirt with her. Shaking her head, she bent down and began to collect the items that had scattered in various positions on the floor.

 

“Ha Ha, Killian! That’s really hilarious”, Emma stated sarcastically, opening her locker and jamming her books within it. She felt breath against her bare neck as Killian moved closer to her. Whispering in her ear, “So how about it, Swan? Fancy a ride? I hear I’m quite the hook!”

Emma spun and shoved his chest roughly.

 

“The only hook you’ll be getting, is my left hook to your goddamn jaw!” Emma retorted before slamming her locker shut and storming off.

 

This was exactly why she was gay.

 

Emma had realised she was gay when she was thirteen. She was now seventeen. Seventeen and single. When she was sixteen, she dated a girl called Lily for five months. They met when she ran a red light and caused an accident with her parent’s vehicle. At the time, Emma was in the front seat of their car, talking profusely with her father when a black Ford crashed into the side of their car. Leaping out of the car, her father accessed the damage while Emma dashed towards the culprit of the crash. She was about to scream and yell, when she noticed the brunette was in tears and was having difficulty breathing. 

 

Urgently, she got the girl out of the car and tried calming her down. To no avail, the girl continued to gasp for air and sob. Glancing over her shoulder, Emma helplessly looked to her father for help. David, being a kind hearted soul, came over to join his daughter who was kneeling beside the girl who was cradling her knees. When the girl noticed David, she started to cry harder and apologize whilst choking on her sobs. The apologies gushed out of her mouth repetitively until David managed to calm her down, assuring her it was fine. Emma observed the scene quietly.

 

“What’s your name?” David asked the unfamiliar face. 

 

“Lily Page” the girl answered, her sobbing evening out. Emma creased her eyebrows, Lily Page. Lily looked no older than sixteen.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“S-Sixteen.” 

 

David and Emma shared a look. What on Earth was a girl of sixteen doing, speeding along the roads in a vehicle? 

 

After the situation was sorted out, Emma and Lily began to spend more time together. The girl had explained that she was running away from an abusive foster home and had stolen a car to do so. She begged the two Swan family members not to report her. Days turned into weeks, and friendship turned into romance. They were in a loving relationship for five months until one morning, Emma woke up to a text message from her girlfriend, dated the night before at 2am.

 

_Lily: Emma, I’m sorry._

 

And that was all it said.

 

There was a knock on her bedroom door. Her parent’s entered the room with heartbroken looks on their faces. David walked towards Emma and handed her the daily newspaper.

 

**Lily Page, Age Sixteen, Suicide Victim.**

 

Emma’s vision blurred and her heart broke. She refused to leave her room and sat, screaming and crying into her pillow. Her heart shattered into a million pieces that day. Regina comforted her and soothed her during this time. Staying each night, by Emma’s side, holding her best friend’s head against her chest, running her hands through her golden locks and humming sweet lullabies to her. 

 

Regina hadn’t meant to treat Emma like a child, but in the end, it proved that was exactly what she needed. Emma needed someone to hold her and Regina was that someone. The brunette sat through days of silence and sobs, rubbing soothing circles on Emma’s back. Sleeping next to her at night. No words were needed. Emma found solace within those wide brown eyes and as the weeks passed, her heart mended. Regina had been her rock.

 

Regina and Emma had known each other since they were only four years old. David got a job at the Sherriff’s station when Emma turned four years old, meeting Henry Mills, the husband of Cora Mills, the town Mayor. Henry and David quickly became good friends and shared information about their daughters and families with one another. A few weeks later, the two men scheduled a playdate for their daughters and the pair of girls had been inseparable ever since.

 

Emma walked out onto the quad of the highschool, taking a right and making her way towards her and Regina’s spot. The large oak tree. She heard Regina’s melodious laugh before she saw her. Smiling, she reached her friends. Regina was laughing, clutching her stomach as she leant against the large oak. Anna Arendelle was clearly in the midst of telling another joke when Regina noticed Emma.

 

“Emma!” She chirped as she jumped up, grabbing her best friend into a tight embrace. “You’ll never believe what happened to me last period!” Regina exclaimed dramatically, tugging Emma to come and sit next to her. 

 

“You know Robin, right? He started throwing paper aeroplanes at me during Art with Miss Snow, which I know is very immature for being seventeen and nearly an adult! But, I unfolded it and there was an arrow sticking out of a love heart drawn on the paper!” Regina squealed, her lips spread in a giant grin. The grin made Emma’s heart skip a beat and her stomach to sink for reason’s she didn’t understand, so she nodded and gave Regina a tight smile. Regina noticed the lack of genuineness in her smile and her features suddenly took on a look of concern and her eyebrows furrowed. 

 

“What’s wrong, Emma?” she asked. Emma’s eyebrows shot up above her hairline and her jaw dropped open. She cleared her throat and shook her head.  
“Nothing, I’m fine?” Emma stated, however it sounded more like a question than an answer.

 

Regina stared at her suspiciously, so Emma said the first thing that came to her mind. 

 

“Killian was being an asshole like usual!”

 

Regina nodded, placing her hand on Emma’s knee to continue. Emma looked at the hand when she felt electricity thrum through her veins. Regina had touched her many times before, however this felt different. “He, uh, knocked me over and started to flirt with me..” Emma muttered.

 

Regina gasped and smacked Emma’s knee. “Please tell me you flirted back!”

 

Emma looked at her with disgust on her features. “Are you kidding me? He’s an absolute pig!”

 

Regina rolled her eyes, “But a hot one!”

 

Emma grimaced, remembering that Regina assumed she was bi, before saying, “So tell me more about Robin”.

 

Regina’s eyes lit up and she started talking animatedly about her crush on Robin Locksley. As the brunette spoke about all the romantic things he did to get her attention, Emma felt her heart continue to sink into her stomach and her mood begin to dampen. She knew what these feelings were as she focused on the beauty of her best friend, she just hadn’t realised them.

 

Emma Swan was inlove with Regina.


	2. Chapter 2

The realisation chilled Emma to the core. This _was_ an absolute disaster. How could she have spent so many years by Regina’s side and _not_ realised what she felt for her?

Emma gazed at Regina, noting closely how a dimple presented itself when she smiled, how the corners of her deep brown eyes crinkled when she laughed and how her iris’s seemed to sparkle with light when she was happy. She admired the brunette before her, Regina was absolutely stunning. And absolutely not available. _Get yourself together, Emma._

“I really think that he is coming on to me!”, Regina squealed, clasping her hands together and grinning like a child. Anna nudged Regina’s shoulder, a smirk forming on her lips.

“He might ask you to prom…”, the redhead suggested with a wink. Emma rolled her eyes but forced a smile. Regina blushed immediately before beginning to giggle.

“Do you really think so? Oh my god! I really hope so!” Regina gushed, obviously having a fan-girl moment over Robin Locksley.

Emma had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a snide remark on how the teenage boy looked like he had been raised in the forest - _and acted like he had been too._ It wasn’t that Emma didn’t like Robin, it was more the fact that she was jealous of him. Or jealous of Regina wanting him and not her. The latter seemed more realistic to Emma, freshly recognised but very relevant. He would never know Regina in the way that Emma did. He would never be as close to Regina as Emma was. Emma’s heart sunk. _But he could be close to Regina in ways that Emma could not. He could kiss her and buy her presents. He could hold her hand in public and he could claim her by marking her neck with his teeth._

The thought of Robin Locksley even touching Regina sent anger buzzing through her veins. She clenched her fists and bit her tongue until she tasted blood. In an instant, Emma had shot up to her feet and thrown her bag on over her shoulder. Regina looked at her warily.

“Emma…” Regina drew out hesitantly. “Are you okay?”

Emma clenched her jaw before smiling the fakest smile she could muster. “I’m absolutely fine. I, uh, need to go to speak with… I left my geography book in Mr Finch’s classroom.” Emma stammered before shrugging. “I’ll meet you after class.” Emma stated before turning around and walking away from the group.

Regina watched her leave with furrowed brows. 

“Emma, totally isn’t acting weird or anything.” Archie muttered from beside Anna. Regina glanced at the psychology major before murmuring slightly. Regina glanced back in the direction Emma had taken off in, Emma was nowhere in sight. 

Emma stormed across the quad and made a sharp turn to the left in order to enter the school building. She made her way to the bathrooms before slamming a stall door behind her and perching herself on the toilet seat lid. She brought her hands to her face before running them through her hair in an affect to calm herself. After a moment of deep breathing, Emma managed to ease herself from the grappling feeling of anger and jealousy and _hurt._

She stood up and left the stall once the bell rang, signalling that the next period was beginning. Emma sighed and began to walk towards her next class. She had English with Ms. Greene. The blonde entered the classroom and took a seat towards the back of the room before grabbing her English textbooks from her backpack. She slumped into her chair and stretched. Ashley Boyd entered the classroom and made her way to sit beside Emma. She smiled awkwardly before pulling the chair out and preparing herself for class. Ashley was a nice girl, her hair was always in a ponytail and she always looked so tired. Emma had no problem with Ashley, asides from the fact that the girl seemed to have something wrong with her _every. Single. Day._ It proved to amuse Emma throughout the English period’s though. Ms. Greene wasn’t exactly entertaining and spoke with such a monotonous tone that it made Emma want to be physically sick. 

“Thomas asked me to go to the movies with him tonight…” Ashley started, smiling at Emma. “I don’t know what to tell him, I mean he’s cute and all but _gosh_ he is nothing compared to Neal. I don’t understand how Neal isn’t seeing that I’m interested in him! What more could I possibly do?” Ashley questioned with a groan. “I hate boys, Emma. They are so clueless!”

Emma smirked. She knew fully well what it was like to hate boys. Ashley hated their absentmindedness, however Emma just hated them. She felt no desires or appeal towards them at all and she found it incredibly amusing to listen to her friends ramble on and on about them. Well, not when it came to Regina, obviously, but in general, yes. It’s not that Emma actually hated males, but she found a majority of them to be insufferable. Apart from Neal. Neal was her best friend – asides from Regina – and that’s why Emma could tolerate sitting next to miss chatterbox Boyd, because the gossip she would hear about her best friend was simply hilarious.

Ashley continued to gossip with Emma throughout the entire English period, and before Emma knew it, the bell was once more ringing. Emma sighed in relief, she only had one period left before she and Regina would head to the Mill’s Residency. Emma threw her books into her bag and bid farewell to Ashley before leaving and heading towards Mr Leroy’s classroom for Engineering.

The last half an hour period of the day, Emma spent with a spanner and a wrench while she practiced changing the tyre on a model car. Emma found this ridiculous, she would much rather change an actual wheel of an actual car. _“It’s the theory! You need to know how to change the tyre before you can put it into practice!”_ is the excuse that Grumpy always gave the class. Mr Leroy had earned the nickname of Grumpy from his students due to his constant scowling and his lack of enthusiasm for the subject that he taught. 

The last bell of the day rang and Emma returned the model car to its rightful place before heading out the door. It was now Friday afternoon and Emma was free from the confinements of her school until Monday morning.

Emma walked to the school gates and waited for Regina to show up. Regina came walking down the pathway with Kathryn. Once she reached Emma, Kathryn said a quick hello and goodbye to the duo before racing off to meet up with her own friends. 

“Where to, Miss Swan? Directly back to mine or shall we go to the mall?” Regina asked with a grin. Emma felt her heart flutter and so she shook her head. 

“I think we should just head back to yours, I can’t be bothered with the amount of people in the mall right now!” Emma stated before she began walking towards Mifflin Street. Regina chuckled before catching up.

“Emma Swan, Storybrooke socialite strikes again!” Regina grinned with a laugh, nudging Emma in the side with her elbow. Emma rolled her eyes before allowing herself to chuckle. “How was the rest of your day?” Emma asked.

Regina groaned. “Do not even get me started on geography with Mr Finch! He decides to randomly give us a test next week!”. Emma rolled her eyes. 

“Tell me about it, I had him this morning and he set us a test for Monday. I don’t know how you convinced me into taking geography, but Regina Mills, I hate you for it! I suck so much, I actually don’t understand any of it!” Emma whined, causing Regina to chuckle.

“I merely suggested it dear, I didn’t hold a gun to your head or threaten you with kisses!” Regina quipped. Emma swallowed. She kind of wished Regina had smothered her with kisses. But obviously that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. 

“Yeah, whatever!” Emma scoffed, “You knew I’d take it on. I mean, who would dare resist Regina Mills, the Evil Queen!” Emma joked. Was she flirting? Did joking around with her best friend crush person count as flirting?

Regina placed her hand on her heart in mock offence. “You dare to speak to your Queen that way?” Regina announced before making eye contact with Emma, causing them both to break out in fits of laughter.

The duo arrived at Regina’s house and entered the kitchen. Emma hopped up onto the stool at the counter and allowed her bag to fall to the ground. 

“You know, if you really are struggling with geography, I don’t mind tutoring you” Regina offered with a smile. 

“Thanks, but I really don’t need your pity tutoring. I’d rather fail than be a charity case to be honest.” Emma responded, shrugging slightly. Regina pouted.

“You’re not a charity case, Emma! You’re struggling with a subject and I want to help you! I don’t want you to fail anything-“ Regina placed her hands on Emma’s, “Plus, it’ll also help me study! It’s a win-win situation! Neither of us fail and you can comfortably say you’ll be joining me in university!”

Emma smiled weakly, “Fine! You can tutor me, but don’t expect any payment!” Emma joked, poking her tongue out at Regina. Regina chuckled and shook her head.

“Trust me, your love is payment enough!” Regina smiled, tapping Emma’s hands once more. 

Emma smiled. Yes. Her love would be enough. But how long until Regina figured out her hidden feelings? How long until it ruined everything?


End file.
